Irreverent story collection captivating

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This article was published 06/04/2024 (899 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What causes people anxiety in the 21st century, and how do they grapple with it?

In her second short-fiction collection, Carleigh Baker addresses this question in 15 incisive and thought-provoking tales, with quirky characters and richly imaginative plots. The stories present her take on the changing state of the world and the steadfast uncertainty surrounding our prospects for the future.

Baker is a Vancouver writer of Métis/Cree/Icelandic descent. Her 2017 debut volume of short stories Bad Endings centres around female protagonists in plots with fraught romantic entanglements and magic realism involving animals and nature. The book garnered several accolades, including the 2017 City of Vancouver Book Award and a nomination for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.

Baker’s second collection also involves oddball protagonists, mostly women. However, the plots often include an absurdist element.

Written in an irreverent, informal prose, these tales are interspersed with crisp dialogue. In one story, a teenager says, “What would a hole in the ozone layer look like? Was there any way to close it? Sounded like something a superhero would have to do.”

Baker utilizes striking images. In a description foreshadowing a later plot development, she writes: “Out of the window of that thirtieth-floor office, an osprey flew into the turbine of an ascending jumbo jet, spraying feathers into the sky.”

Some of the pieces focus on the environment. In Outraged on Your Behalf, the unnamed employee surfs the internet at work for news about the B.C. wildfires, only to discover that her parents are among the evacuees. Displacement recounts a couple’s horrific post-flood experience as they check out the irreparable damage to their home and business.

A couple of stories explore notions of belonging. Co-op tells of a young woman new to a housing complex who tries to fit in with her female neighbours through an odd fertility ritual. In Midwives, two Métis women, both strangers, develop a friendly relationship while portaging a canoe on a trip.

In the titular story, a woman living alone in a remote cabin describes herself in terms of the video game about the last person on Earth which helps her stave off loneliness. Another story with a similar theme is Patron Saint of the Hesitant, about a older single woman who conquers loneliness during COVID through a virtual friendship with a walking instructor.

Other stories are “what if” cautionary tales about real estate gone awry. Burial Ground is a fascinating albeit eerie piece about the bulldozing of a mall and the outrageous structure that replaces it. The Midden imagines what would happen if all the houses in a Vancouver district were bought up for redevelopment, then left vacant and broken into.

Adding a bizarre touch to the collection are three whimsical tales about billionaire women in outer space and the differing motivations for their undertakings.

Those who enjoy short-story collections will find an original and incisive voice in Bakers’ tales. No doubt, many readers will look forward to her next fictional offering.

Bev Sandell Greenberg is a Winnipeg writer and editor.